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Scott Hechinger

Nov 6, 2021 • 11 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X

When you think of a state w/ most racist, cruel, & outrageous system of criminalization & incarceration, you probably don't think of Maryland.

Learned some brutal facts today. Let's start w/ this:

Maryland incarcerates more Black people than any other state in country. More:

70% of people in Maryland prisons are Black.

That's the highest percentage in the nation.

Double the national average.

More than 25% higher than MD's nearest competitor - Mississippi.

Maryland charges more children as adults per capita than any other state besides Alabama. And Alabama recently changed their law, so Maryland is now likely the worst.

Maryland charges children *automatically* as adults for more than 33 offenses, including misdemeanors.

Maryland charges nearly 1,000 children a year in adult court even though more than 87% of them are transferred to juvenile court, have their cases dismissed, or are given time served.

But by then the trauma has happened. Damage done.

The vast majority of children are Black.

Congress reauthorized the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act in 2020. Prohibited the caging of juveniles in adult prison.

1 out of every 3 Maryland jails reports caging a juvenile.

Maryland is violating federal law as I type this tweet

Maryland is 3rd in the country for the caging of juveniles in adult prison behind Florida and North Carolina (changed their law so they will be at zero), & Alaska.

https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1449062252238180358?s=20

Maryland has a Governor who is actively lying that the police in his state were defunded, when their budgets have dramatically increased every year.

https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1449062252238180358?s=20

@SABraveboy

And Maryland is the state that is home to Prince George's County, MD, where the self-proclaimed "progressive" prosecutor Aisha Braveboy (@SABraveboy) continues to send hundreds of people into the horrors of their pretrial cages. More here on her injustice: gaspingforjustice.org

There is some cause for optimism in Maryland.

The state Juvenile Justice Reform Council proposed changes to ending charging kids as adults. But it's likely to face opposition by Maryland's Governor currently staging a lie campaign to "refund the police." dls.maryland.gov/policy-areas/j…

More cause for optimism in Maryland. State closed 2 youth prisons during COVID &reduced youth prison population by 50% over past 2 years. And guess what?

Youth arrests in Baltimore City are down more than 2/3 since 2019 & the numbers have stayed low.

Decarceration = health.

Despite evidence showing treating kids with community-based interventions & not locking them up, increases public safety, Maryland still sends 100s of Black kids into the adult system every year despite all science, evidence, and research.

DO BETTER MARYLAND!!

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More from @ScottHech

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

May 11

Wow. Fiona Apple is a real one. Watch this video. Calling for donations to bail out Black mothers for Mother’s Day. Her fans already came through w donations & spreading the word. Over $30k! Let’s “fetch the bolt cutters” & support even more. I just gave. givebutter.com/nHSrnp

Two years ago, Fiona Apple popped up on a zoom call to get trained by local organizers to Court watch. Dedicated ever since. Her work has led to freedom, lawsuits, accountability.

The stories all here in this short video. She wrote & performed the score:

Be like Fiona Apple. Volunteer to CourtWatch. Visit this campaign hub, learn more, connect w/ a local courtwatch program, &/or learn how to start your own.

Injustice happens in empty courtrooms. Which allows police brutality to continue outside of them. Courtwatch.org

Read 10 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

Mar 18

“No judge has ever lost their job setting bail on someone.”

A NYC judge whispered that. To a public defender. Before depriving their destitute client of freedom. This happens every day. Judges are intimidated to throw poor people in cages.

Thread on a history of intimidation:

Public defenders @elizaorlins & @APetrigh tell about the open secret of "justice" throughout the country People are deprived of liberty, not based on merit. But judicial fear of negative press.

Story is paywalled. So Im transcribing it here:nydailynews.com/2024/03/15/int…

"The NYPD’s recent social media attack against a judge who released a defendant under supervision instead of setting bail and detaining them. The case drew headlines because the NYPD’s aggressive social media posts were full of misinformation, including misidentifying the judge."

Read 11 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

Feb 17

How copaganda works. Police, prosecutor, & prison interests use media to exaggerate & lie about "sensational" cases. Amplify them on repeat. Create the *perception* that "crime" or "migrants" are a "Crisis!"

Perpetual anger/fear buys votes & public opinion. Facts be damned.

How copaganda works. Police release a highly edited video that doesn't include their unprovoked, violent, & unjustified attack on a migrant. Manufactured "outcry" ensues. Lawmakers call for sweeping policy changes. New video later released. It's too late. Profound damage done.

How copaganda works. Even after previously withheld police footage showed the "attack on police" in Times Square was the opposite: An unprovoked attack *by police* on innocent people, reports continue only center the lie.

None (that I've seen) report on the overt police lie.

Read 12 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

Dec 4, 2023

An interesting story for you. Was catching up w/ a friend at coffeeshop. The mother of her friend walked by & joined us briefly. She’s from Chicago. She told us a story about talking to a Chicago police officer. Thanking him for his service.

What he told her will surprise you.

As quick background, she is a white woman. In her 60s. Well off. Grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. Now downtown. Forever Dem. Supported the end of cash bail. But is “fed up” w/ “all the violence.” Thinks “something has to be done.”

She saw a cop the other day & went up to him.

She told the cop how scared she was by everything she was reading in the news. Couldn’t imagine how tough things were “for him” given the “crime rates.” (Note: Homicides are down significantly in most of Chicago, but violence remains a scourge).

The cop told her to “buy a gun”

Read 17 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

Sep 18, 2023

Extraordinary work again from @TeenVogue -- the best justice journalism outlet in the country. On the day that cash bail is finally eliminated in Illinois, they release a critical explainer on "Copaganda."

How to identify & respond to lies & fearmongering about safety. Watch:

Must watch. The week that cash bail is finally eliminated in Illinois, local experts debunk harmful myths that the media peddles about bail reform. In this @TeenVogue video explainer.

"This fear has been built up & stoked by media misinformation. A refrain. A scapegoat " Watch:

Last year: Artists, survivors of violence, organizers, entrepreneurs, public defenders, policy experts, restorative justice practitioners, and system-impacted people sat for a series of conversations while exploring a groundbreaking exhibition on torture and incarceration.

Read 9 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

Aug 4, 2023

Teen Vogue out again w/ the best in political commentary, justice journalism & truth. A compelling & easily digestible explainer on "Abolition."

New vision of safety: "If policing prosecution & incarceration created safety, we'd be the safest country in the world." Watch. Learn:

When people hear the word "abolition" they think 'crazy leftist.' 'Idealistic.'

In reality: "We're the clear eyed ones. We have the whole history of the world to let us know what were doing now is not sustainable. We want a world where violence isn't the norm." Part 2: